German progressive metal outfit The Ocean have unveiled their rendition of Nine Inch Nails’ “Even Deeper” as the third single from ‘Best of Nine Inch Nails Redux’, a companion album releasing alongside the upcoming ‘The Downward Spiral Redux’ installment in the MER Redux Series. The track serves as both tribute and farewell, marking the final recording with former vocalist Loic Rossetti.
“When Nine Inch Nails released the double album ‘The Fragile’ in 1999, it was an eye-opening record for Loic and me in many ways,” guitarist Robin Staps explains. “The sheer scope of this album, the production marrying fat electronics with broken, organic, and acoustic elements that are intentionally slightly out of tune – no one else had done it like that before. Initially, we wanted to cover ‘The Great Below’, but someone had already picked that track, which made ‘Even Deeper’ our second choice.” The Ocean transform the industrial meditation into something distinctly their own while preserving the spirit of Trent Reznor’s original vision.
The recording features contributions from Simen of Spurv on trombone and Orestis of Playgrounded on synths, adding textural depth to The Ocean’s reimagining. “In hindsight, we were lucky with that,” Staps adds. “It is the perfect track for us and I like to think that we managed to make it ours, while honouring the original. This is also a farewell, big thank you, and send-off to Loic, as it was the final track that we recorded with him on vocals!”